Latching arrangement for hatch cover

ABSTRACT

A hatch cover for opening and closing the hatch structure of a vehicle hopper includes a locking mechanism which may be actuated by means of a rotatable hand wheel supported on top of the cover. The cover is hingedly connected to the hatch structure, and upon unlocking of the locking mechanism, may be hinged upwardly from a closed to an opened position. The latch mechanism is provided on one side of the cover which also includes a resilient or compressible locking seal. The latch mechanism provides a secondary lock for the hatch cover and includes elements which in interengagement serve to indicate that the gasket seal has been sufficiently compressed during the locking action of the locking mechanism to thereby effectively seal the hatch opening.

V United States Patent Hutchison et al. Nov. 4, 1975 LATCHING ARRANGEMENT FOR HATCH 3,228,353 l/1966 Carney 105/377 COVER 3,821,935 7 1974 Adler 105/377 [75] Inventors: John W. Hutchison, Crown Point' Prima ry Exammer-M. Henson Wood, Jr. i s Hesch John both of Assistant Examiner-Randolph A. Reese n Attorney, Agent, or FirmRichard J. Myers [73] Assignee: Pullman Incorporated, Chicago, Ill.

[57] ABSTRACT 22 F1 d: 5 1974 1 l 6 June A hatch cover for opening and closing the hatch strucpp N05 476,492 ture of a vehicle hopper includes a locking mechanism which may be actuated by means of a rotatable hand [52] us C]. 105/377, H 4 292/260 wheel supported on top of the cover. The cover is 51 Int. c1. B611) 39/00 hingedly Connected to the hatch Structure and 581 Field of Search 105/377- 114/177 201 R unlockmg of the king mechanism may be hmged 11 4/201 A 292/2565 259 upwardly from a closed to an opened position. The 283 6 latch mechanism is provided on one side of the cover which also includes a resilient or compressible locking seal. The latch mechanism provides a secondary lock [56] References Cue?! for the hatch cover and includes elements which in in- UNITED STATES PATENTS terengagement serve to indicate that the gasket seal 58,091 9/1866 FOX .1 292/281 has been sufi'iciently compressed during the locking 1?; g f:P --l-(- u action of the locking mechanism to thereby effectively ars ac 2,816,683 12/1957 Miers et al. 292/2565 X Seal the hatch opemng' 3,041,099 6/1962 Stewart et al 292/259 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 4 i l9 17 I 1 50 39 22 i 43 9 4s 36 31 3o 29 29 33 2 20 I6 28 29b 27 28 30 I5 US. Patent Nov. 4, 1975 V 3,916,800

LATCHING ARRANGEMENT FOR HATCH COVER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to hatch covers of a type used invehicles such as railway hopper cars. A hatch cover locking and unlocking device is utilized which includes a rotatable locking handle having a locking spider arm assembly connected to the lower portions thereof, the same being engageable with locking lugs spaced around the inner periphery of a tubular trough forming an inlet opening into the hopper. The hatch cover is moved in a generally vertical direction about a pivot and includes on its inner surface a compressible gasket or sealing element which is adatped to engage a peripheral flange extending circu mferentially around the upper edge of the tubular trough. As the locking device handle wheel isrotated and the locking spider engages the lugs on the inner portion of the tubular trough, the gasket is compressed to forman effective and positive seal above the circumferentially extending flange.

An additional or auxiliary latch is provided at one edge of the cover which includes a locking element projecting laterally outwardly with respect thereto. A latch device including a bracket which is connected to the tubular trough is provided with an elongated slot and during counterclockwise hinging movement of the latch element the locking tab becomes disposed in the slot and projects laterally outwardly therefrom. The locking tab also includes ears provided with holes which are in registry with a hole in the locking tab within which a car seal is secured. Disposition of the latch element is such that once it is engaged with the locking tab the seal element has been sufficiently compressed to provide for an effective seal about the peripheral edge of the tubular trough. Thus, while the latch element and parts thereof provide auxiliary latching of the cover, the latch is so constructed that it effectively guarantees positive sealing by the compressed seal since the latch element will not be engaged with the locking element until such compression is achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now particularly to FIG. 1, a railway hopper car 10 is disclosed. The car 10, or similar vehicle, may include side walls 11 provided with one or more hoppers 12. The hoppers 12 are of conventional construction including the usual sloping walls 12a and are provided at their lower portions with conventional discharge gates 13 schematically shown. These gates are well-known in the art and may be of conventional construction forming no part of the present invention. The upper extremity of the car includes the usual roof or covering wall 14, and in the car shown in FIG. 1, three hoppers 12 are disclosed. Access to each of these is through a tubular neck, or cylindrical wall 15, one of which is best shown in FIG. 2. The tubular neck 15 includes an outer peripheral flange 16 at its upper extremity. A cover is designated at 17 and includes a downwardly extending peripheral flange 18 adapted to overlie or overlap the flange 16, as best shown in FIG. 2. The cover 17 is supported for hinging movement by means of a hinge bracket 19 provided on the cover and a hinge bracket 20 connected to the tubular neck 15. A hinge pin 21 suitably connects the brackets 19 and 20 for relative hinging movement.

The underneath side of the cover 17 is provided with a resilient or compressible seal 22, which as disclosed in the present invention, may be of tubular form though other seals of other shapes may be utilized. A locking mechanism for locking the cover in a closed position includes a hand wheel 23 journaled in a bearing 24 rigidly supported on the cover 17. The hand wheel 23 has connected thereto a threaded stud 25 for rotation with said hand wheel 23. A threaded sleeve 26 is vertically movable relative to the threaded stud 25 and includes a spider generally designated at 27. The spider comprises a plurality of arms 28 only two of which are shown in FIG. 2. Reinforcing gussets or plates 29 suitably connect the threaded sleeve 26 and the arms 28. Lugs 30 are connected to the outer ends of the arms 28 and these are adapted to engage stop lugs 31 rigidly secured to the inner surfaces of the tubular neck 15. A bracket 29a is rigidly connected to the underneath side of the cover 17 and projects downwardly with respect thereto. The bracket 29a includes a slot 29b which extends vertically and within which a follower 290 is positioned for vertical movement as the spider moves in a vertical direction. Details of the locking mechanism just described are more specifically disclosed in the above-mentioned related patent application.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, a latch bracket arrangement is generally designated at 32 and comprises a pair of laterally spaced parallel arms 33 which are rigidly secured to the outer surface of the neck 15 immediately below the flange 16. A connector wall 34 connects the arms 33. The arms 33 are provided adjacent their distal ends with aligned openings through which a hinge screw 36 extends and is secured thereto by means of a nut 37. A sleeve 38 is rotatably hinged on the hinge screw 36 and is rigidly connected to a flat latch element 39. The latch element 39 may be moved about the hinge screw 36 between clockwise and counterclockwise positions. A lock member 40 includes a slender tab or tongue 41 having its plane in a vertical plane and which in the locked position is engaged, as shown in FIG. 5, within a slot 42 of the latch element 39. The tongue 41 is attached to a guide plate connected to the outer flange 18 of the cover 17. The guide plate 50 has a lower portion 51 slightly less in width than the width of the arms 33 which guide the guide plate 50 therebetween. The latch element 39 also has connected thereto, as best shown in FIG. 5, outwardly projecting ears 43 parallel to the tongue 41 and which have apertures or openings 44 in aligned relation, the same openings also being in alignment with an opening 45 provided in the tongue or tab 41, as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. As indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a car seal 46 is adapted to be inserted through the openings 44 and 45.

The Operation The operation of the hand wheel and locking mechanism is more specifically described in the aforementioned applicationv In the lock position as shown in FIG. 2 of the cover 17, the seal 22 is properly compressed between the flanges 18 and 16 to effectively seal the neck from any possible leakage. To open the cover 17, it is first necessary to pivot the latch element 39 in a clockwise direction free of the tab 41 after the car seal has been removed. The hand wheel 23 is now rotated in a manner wherein the spider 27 moves downwardly below the latch lugs 31. The follower 29c follows the shape of the slot 29b which is of serpentine configuration, thus moving the lugs 30 in a rotative manner with the spider 27 wherein the lugs 30 are moved to one side of the stop lugs 31. The cover may now be opened by rotation of the same around the hinge brackets 19 and 20.

To again close the cover to the closed position shown in FIG. 2, the reverse operation takes place and the hand wheel is moved to again lock the spider in position wherein the lugs 30 engage the stop lugs 31. As the hand wheel 23 continues to be rotated the seal 22 is compressed. To assure that proper compression of the seal takes place, so as to effectively seal the neck 15, the latch element now comes into operation. If the seal is insufficiently compressed, counterclockwise rotation of the latch element 39 will not permit the tongue or tab 41 to be inserted through the opening 42, as shown in FIG. 4, since the upper edge of the tab 41 will still be above the upper edge of the opening and no engagement is possible. Only after the cover has been sufficiently moved downwardly to permit the tab 41 to enter into the slot 42 can the engagement of the latch element with the locking member 40 take place and this is only possible when the cover has been sufficiently moved downwardly to effectively compress the seal 22 to the desired extent, as shown in FIG. 2. The car seal is then applied and the hopper is properly sealed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle hopper arrangement having a lower discharge portion,

a horizontal covering wall at the upper portion of said hopper including a vertical tubular wall having an upper flange defining an inlet opening into said hopper,

a cover supported on said covering wall movable upwardly from a closed position to an open position,

said cover having a peripheral portion and a flange extending downwardly from the peripheral portion and being adapted in the closed position to overlap said upper flange,

means for moving said cover between said positions including manually operable means for tightly urging said peripheral portion toward said upper flange; the improvement comprising,

a seal arrangement for sealing said inlet opening in the closed position of said cover including;

a resilient seal supported on the underneath side of the peripheral portion of said cover and in the closed position being disposed adjacent and coextensive with both said peripheral portion and said upper flange,

a latch bracket including a pair of spaced parallel arms connected to and projecting laterally from said tubular wall,

a latch element pivotally connected between said arms adjacent the distal ends of the arms,

a guide plate connected to the flange of the cover and extending downward therefrom, I

the lower portion of the guide plate having a width slightly less than the spacing between the pair of arms for being received between the pair of arms toward the connected ends of the pair of arms from the latch element,

a tongue attached to the guide plate and projecting laterally from the cover,

said tongue having its plane in a vertical plane,

said latch element having a slot for receiving said tongue only when said cover is in a closed position with a predetermined degree of compression of said resilient seal,

said tubular wall including stop means therein,

said means for moving said cover including a hand wheel rotatably connected to said cover and including rotatable drive means,

driver means connected to said drive means, and

said driver means including vertically movable spider means engageable with said stop means for compressing said resilient seal.

2. The invention according to claim 1 including a pair of outwardly projecting ears connected to the latch element for extending parallel to the tongue when the tongue is received in the slots of the latch element,

said pair of cars and said tongue having aligned openings for receiving a seal. 

1. In a vehicle hopper arrangement having a lower discharge portion, a horizontal covering wall at the upper portion of said hopper including a vertical tubular wall having an upper flange defining an inlet opening into said hopper, a cover supported on said covering wall movable upwardly from a closed position to an open position, said cover having a peripheral portion and a flange extending downwardly from the peripheral portion and being adapted in the closed position to overlap said upper flange, means for moving said cover between said positions including manually operable means for tightly urging said peripheral portion toward said upper flange; the improvement comprising, a seal arrangement for sealing said inlet opening in the closed position of said cover including; a resilient seal supported on the underneath side of the peripheral portion of said cover and in the closed position being disposed adjacent and coextensive with both said peripheral portion and said upper flange, a latch bracket including a pair of spaced parallel arms connected to and projecting laterally from said tubular wall, a latch element pivotally connected between said arms adjacent the distal ends of the arms, a guide plate connected to the flange of the cover and extending downward therefrom, the lower portion of the Guide plate having a width slightly less than the spacing between the pair of arms for being received between the pair of arms toward the connected ends of the pair of arms from the latch element, a tongue attached to the guide plate and projecting laterally from the cover, said tongue having its plane in a vertical plane, said latch element having a slot for receiving said tongue only when said cover is in a closed position with a predetermined degree of compression of said resilient seal, said tubular wall including stop means therein, said means for moving said cover including a hand wheel rotatably connected to said cover and including rotatable drive means, driver means connected to said drive means, and said driver means including vertically movable spider means engageable with said stop means for compressing said resilient seal.
 2. The invention according to claim 1 including a pair of outwardly projecting ears connected to the latch element for extending parallel to the tongue when the tongue is received in the slots of the latch element, said pair of ears and said tongue having aligned openings for receiving a seal. 